Disneyland Half "Welcome Meetup Event" - $89!

[roomthreeseventeen]

This, IMHO, is crazy.

The Welcome Event features:
Official Welcome from runDisney
Question and Answer Session and Dynamic Warm-up with Runner's World Experts
Official Welcome to California with a ride on Soarin' Over California
One (1) hour early entry into "Official runDisney Merchandise area" on Thursday, August 28, 2014
runDisney bag which includes a runDisney tech shirt and a Runner's World Magazine

 

[longhorns2]

Yeah. I just saw this. Ugh. Posted about it on my blog. #killingthemagic

http://margaritasmilesandmouse.blogspot.com/2014/01/future-of-rundisney-meet-ups.html

 

[TravisSch]

I'll save my $89 for buying race merchandise. I doubt a group of people who get in to the merchandise area 1 hour early are going to clear out the area. I plan on waiting in line for the expo to open on that first day anyway.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

aaannnnddd they found a way to profit off the popularity of the 'parks blog' meet ups...

I could see this being popular esp among the 1st time disney runners and the proverbial 'im doing this to say I did this- whether I officially finish or not' "runners"

Would I participate? Not likely but I also have 15+ rundis events under my belt, only pasta n the park party Ive been to I worked etc... If they were to put a race in say DLR Paris then I could easily see myself adding the 'welcome' party as an extra 'perk'

-em

 

[jmasgat]

Sigh.....not surprised at all. It's like making lemons out of lemonade in a warped way. "Hey, the expo is crowded and runs out of merchandise......let's not fix that for everyone. Let's just create a VIP experience and charge money for it!

 

[Ariel484]

"Crazy" is the perfect word to describe it. I'll be VERY curious to see if this sells out...sadly, I bet it will.

 

[FFigawi]

It's like they've been infiltrated by the guys at Competitor...

 

[SunshineRunner]

That's insane- $89 for that is exorbitant.

 

[SunshineRunner]

My goodness it's already 85% full. I don't know what's more insane- the price or that so many people are willing to pay it.

 

[Breyean]

Load up on the hard to get, easy to sell merchandise, like D&B bags and NB shoes, in that hour and this can cover the $89 fee.

 

[McCoy]

I find it interesting Disney removed the Welcome Event from its meters indicating how full the events are. As best I can tell, it's the only event they've ever removed from those meters. I assume they are getting a bit of negative feedback about the new event setup, but not really sure what removing it from those meters accomplishes.

 

[lap3]

I agree this is crazy for a welcome event because I surely wouldn't do it. But I wonder how many people out there thinking we're crazy paying almost $200 for a half marathon. Hmmm....

 

[fairestoneofall]

Load up on the hard to get, easy to sell merchandise, like D&B bags and NB shoes, in that hour and this can cover the $89 fee.

exactly.

i wouldn't do it even if i were going to already be in town. but i can see the appeal with getting the merchandise before everyone else. i hope that rD is better equipped for this year's race than they were last year.

 

[taratru]

As cheap as the merchandise was this year (falling apart, snagging, etc), I'm not going to be in any hurry to get to the expo anyway. Feels very RnR to me and I don't like it.

 

[StarGirl11]

Load up on the hard to get, easy to sell merchandise, like D&B bags and NB shoes, in that hour and this can cover the $89 fee.

Moments like these I am glad I don't buy D&B. And I don't think NB shoes are covered under the shopping spree since that's in a different booth entirely. It says official RunDisney merchandise booth. They don't sell the shoes in the merchandise booth (thankfully I cant imagine what the chaos would have been like the last year or so if they had tried that). I'm more concerned about getting my Dumbo merchandise. I'm hoping since it's not an inaugural year now it won't be as bad but still.

 

[bumbershoot]

I agree this is crazy for a welcome event because I surely wouldn't do it. But I wonder how many people out there thinking we're crazy paying almost $200 for a half marathon. Hmmm....

My brother certainly does. He has been running long races for upwards of 20 years, and he's going to run this Half with me, but complained about the cost. Not because it's a hardship for him, but because it's a totally obnoxious cost. When I found out the cost I was embarrassed that I'd asked him if he'd like to run with me. (and that's saying something, given how embarrassed I was at my finish time for the WDW Half, which he saw online before I had checked my official time, ugh)



As for me, I'm certainly tempted, but that's just because I like to be officially welcomed to things. I hate missing out, which is just silly, but...

Plus, I like Soarin'. I'm not even the big merchandise buyer for these things...DH is. I said "heck no!" to the TOT zip-up, and then when I'd finished running DH and DS had broad smiles and pulled out the exact thing I'd said "no" to (and hadn't told them about because I knew they'd buy it for me!). So really I should send DH to this, LOL, if I wanted merchandise bought....